1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to multimedia contents, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for reproducing multimedia contents regardless of the type and version of a codec, an apparatus and method for generating multimedia contents, and a storage medium for storing multimedia contents.
2. Description of the Related Art
Multimedia contents are formed by combining a variety of media such as text, sound, still images, moving picture media, etc. Reproduction of multimedia contents usually requires that image and voice information be processed at the same time. Because of the large amount of data to be processed, storage of multimedia contents requires a large capacity storage medium such as an optical disc. Here the optical disc may be a compact disc (CD) or a digital versatile disc (DVD). Multimedia contents may also be stored on and reproduced from a local storage such as a computer hard disc, or downloaded from a server in a remote location through a network and reproduced. For convenience of explanation, hereinafter, multimedia contents will be divided into media contents recorded on a storage medium, local contents recorded on a local storage, and remote contents downloaded through a network.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an apparatus for reproducing multimedia contents stored on a conventional storage medium.
Referring to FIG. 1, shown is an apparatus 110 for reproducing multimedia contents recorded on a storage medium 100 such as an optical disc, by using a hardware codec (coder and decoder) 112. Among apparatuses for reproducing multimedia contents recorded on a storage medium, a leading example is a DVD player. Multimedia contents recorded on a storage medium such as a CD-ROM, a DVD, or a video compact disc (VCD), are read into the reproducing apparatus, decoded through a hardware codec, and the decoded result is output through an output apparatus (not shown) such as a display apparatus. The hardware codec encodes or decodes multimedia contents according to a standard such as moving picture experts group (MPEG)-1, -2, -4, or DivX.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an apparatus for reproducing multimedia contents stored in a conventional local or remote storage medium.
Referring to FIG. 2, shown is an apparatus 210 which reproduces a multimedia contents file recorded on a local storage 200 such as a hard disc of a computer, or on an external storage 202 linked through a network, by using a software codec 212. A hardware codec can also be used depending on the design of the reproducing apparatus. The reproducing apparatus may be a desktop PC, a notebook PC, or a personal digital assistant (PDA).
FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a method for reproducing conventional multimedia contents.
Referring to FIG. 3, the conventional apparatuses for reproducing multimedia contents have a structure in which multimedia contents 300 are read from a storage medium, a local storage, or an external storage linked through a network, and then are decoded by using an embedded hardware codec or software codec 310 and output to a display apparatus. That is, a method for decoding multimedia contents varies with respect to the standard method and version of an embedded codec.
However, since codecs are frequently upgraded as technology develops, a compatibility problem arises. For example, in the case of DivX, which is a widely used MPEG-4-based codec, multimedia contents complying with version 5.1 cannot be reproduced by DivX version 5.0.
In particular, since a codec is installed in the form of a hardware chip as shown in FIG. 1, it is very difficult to upgrade the codec and when a new type of a codec is developed and multimedia contents based on this new codec are provided, the new contents cannot be reproduced by the previous codec.
In addition, when a software codec is used as shown in FIG. 2, the codec can be upgraded periodically through a network, or a user can directly download a unified codec. However, in this case, various types of codecs residing in one reproducing apparatus makes management of versions of codecs difficult and the user should have expert knowledge about the codecs. In addition, in a reproducing apparatus not linked to a network, the codecs cannot be upgraded.
Recently, various types of multimedia services have been provided through a variety of consumer electronics (CE) devices. In such CE devices also, it is essential to upgrade codecs, but in a CE device having relatively few resources, it is very difficult to employ a method such as software upgrade, such that when a new type of a codec is introduced, the CE device itself should be upgraded.